Umbilical vein graft for lower limb ischaemia.

Over a two-year period 30 patients in a British district general hospital had human umbilical vein grafts (Meadox Medical) inserted for severe lower limb ischaemia. There were no perioperative deaths but 6 patients subsequently died from their atherosclerosis. The cumulative patency rate at one year was 70%. Five patients suffered immediate graft failure and all required amputation. Failures were due to inappropriate case selection and early technical inexperience with handling the graft.